Vanier College meets with Saint-Laurent companies

Guy Hébert, President of the Saint-Laurent Chamber of Commerce, Laval Demers, Municipal Councilor and representatives from more than a dozen Saint Laurent businesses were among those who attended the first business breakfast hosted by Vanier College on March 16. The event was to help make the St. Laurent business community more aware of what Vanier offers in the way of training opportunities and a strong resource of qualified graduates for many industries and businesses.

“Businesses and education establishments like Vanier are already partners,” says George Archer, Dean of Applied Technology at Vanier College. “We prepare the workforce that businesses will hire five years down the line. But we must hear from companies about what they need in the workforce of the future. So let’s start working collaboratively so that Vanier can tailor programs to better prepare tomorrow’s professionals.”

Brian Monk, Director Sales/Marketing at Carrier Corporation, indicated that “As Keynote Speaker I was provided with the opportunity to outline the benefits of creating a strong relationship between industry and Vanier College. Since my personal experience and career were strongly influenced by this co-op concept, it was easy to outline the advantages to potential employers about getting involved in academic curriculum and supporting the College to help direct our professionals of the future." In his talk Brian Monk suggested that it can take a company up to two years to train entry level professionals. During that time, they are not profitable and the company is paying them for on-the job learning. But if some of the skills new employees need, such as how to make presentations in front of groups and how to understand the way businesses actually function, can be taught at the Cégep level, it would save companies time and money.

“We're pleased with the positive response to our invitation,” says Chris Hall of the Vanier Language School. "It was a good first step in what we see as further developing solid relationships between Vanier College and the St. Laurent business community,” added Jim Munro, Education & Training Advisor, Continuing Education.“We plan to do more in this regard in the future.”

Source: Vanier Communication Office